8 rapists jailed after their 13-year-old victim tracked them down on Facebook

Eight rapists have been arrested and thrown in jail after their 13-year-old victim tracked them down on Facebook.

The schoolgirl was raped while walking home after spending a day with friends at a swimming pool in Velbert, a town in the Western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

As she walked along a forest path on her way home, she was ambushed by eight migrant boys from Bulgaria. The boys dragged her into the bush and took turns raping her.

A family friend, who went searching for the girl as she had not returned home, stumbled on the horrific scene and the boys fled.

Sadly, it looked as though they were going to go free as their identities were not known. But the brave girl tracked them down after vaguely recognising one of them. She gave police the boy’s picture and the suspect was arrested in town later that day.

Police found footage of the rape on the teenager’s phone and could easily identify the other seven perpetrators. Six of the schoolboys, aged between 14 and 17, were found guilty in October last year despite claiming that the 13-year-old victim consented.

The main suspect, aged 15, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison after the court proved he raped the girl twice. Another schoolboy got four years in a juvenile detention centre for also raping the girl twice. Two other migrants were sentenced to two years and 20 months in a youth prison, while two walked free after receiving suspended sentences.

One 15-year-old boy was sentenced to two years and nine months in a youth prison, while another 15-year-old only got a 15-month suspended sentence for aiding the others.

This week, the seventh and eighth schoolboys were found guilty by a court in Wuppertal after they fled to Bulgaria to escape punishment but were picked up and extradited back to Germany.